My husband’s 3rd great grandfather William Jewett McNamara (1834-1911), immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 18 with his five younger siblings in tow after their parents died. They set sail on the Sch. Albatros [sic] from Horton (now Hortonville), Nova Scotia, Canada, and arrived in Boston Massachusetts on 27 August 1852.

Patrick Thomas Flanagan (abt. 1897-1928) died on 23 December 1928 from tuberculosis, just two days before Christmas, plunging his family into a series of events that would leave the children orphans. My grandfather, at just 1-1/2 years old, never knew his father.

Veronica Victoria Dorris (1883-1982), called “Ronnie” by family and friends, was my husband’s great grandmother. This good southern Christian lady moved to the wild west Arizona Territory, away from her parents and family home in Mississippi. She married, raised her children, and spent the rest of her life in Arizona.

Uncle Joe died of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, when I was in eighth grade. I hadn’t thought of him in years, but the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge had Uncle Joe on my mind quite a bit this year. His was the first close family death of my life.Uncle Joe was only 36 years old when this horrible disease took his life.

My 48th ancestor is my great grandmother Agnes Viola Elizabeth Maud Mara (1893-1971), who went by the name Viola. I have mentioned Viola in posts about her father, mother, brother, and mystery half-brother, but I have never actually profiled my great grandmother. Today marks the 43rd anniversary of her death.

My 2nd great grandmother Annie Sophia Allen (b. 1871) was charged with divorce from husband John Carr on the grounds of fraud and deception. I am not sure Allen ever legally divorced her first husband Thomas Mara. Was this the fraud? She also committed at least one lie on her marriage record to Carr.

My 2nd great grandparents Thomas Mara and Anna Sophia Allen, married in 1892, divorced in 1902 on the grounds of extreme cruelty. The divorce took place one day after Anna was already remarried. Was she a bigamist?